Outlet-box.



.1. G. KNIGHT. OUTLET Box. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26. 1914;

LQF I A Patented. Apr. 29,*1919.4

www l j A TTOR/VEV JULAN GORDON KNIGHT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

OUTLET-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29., 1919.

.Application led. lli'ebruary 26, 1914. Serial No. 821,114.

To all ywhom it may concern.'

ABe it known that l, JULIAN GORDON KNIGHT, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of New York city, (Corona, bor. of Queens,) in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Outlet-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

ln my prior application, SerialNumber 716,885, filed August 24th, 1912, l have disclosed and claimed a box in which the top wall is separate from the peripheral wall, whereby the peripheral wall may be secured in place without the top wall, and the conduit or conduits readily connected thereto due to the open top. rThe top wall may then be put in place, and the concrete or other material forming the floor or wall dumped thereon. There was also shown and claimed means whereby the chandelier or other fixture support would have firm anchorage 1ndependent of the box wall and conduit. My present invention involves and has for its object to simplify and improve the means employed for securing the peripheral wall in place and the means for anchoring the support independently of the conduit. One feature of my invention involves the novel formation of the top wall, whereby it serves also as the anchor for the fixture support.. Preferably it is provided with an outwardly proecting peripheral edge portion serving as the anchoring means for a fixture support secured -at the center. To facilitate the securing 1n place of the peripheral wall l preferably provide it with openings through which nails or other fastening means may be inserted prior to the attachment of the cover, thus avoiding the necessity of lugs or other devices.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several vlews, and 1n wh1ch:

Figure l is a perspective view of the under side of a box'em-bodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the box embedded in place and prior to the removal of the form;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail showing a slightly modified form of wall and cover securing means;

Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of'a cover showing in dotted lines one form of peripheral wall; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing a further form Iof cover securing means.

My improved box has a top wall or cover and a peripheral wall 10 which latter may be square, circular, octagonal, or of any other suitable crossesectional form, and preferably provided with suitable knockout plugs 11 normally closing openings therein and which when removed permit the attachment of conduits as is well understood in theart.

rlhe wall at its lower end may be bent inwardly if desired to form a narrow flange 12 against which any ordinary closure (not shown), may be attached to close the under surface of the box when the latter is not used to support a lighting fixture. Any suitable-means may be provided for facilitatingthe attachment of this plate; for instance portions of the peripheral wall may be bent inwardly to Vform lugs 13 at a slightly higher elevation than the flange 12. These lugs may be perforated and threaded to receive screws 11 extending up through the cover and tending to draw the cover and lugs toward each other so that the slight resilient bending of the lugs would edectively prevent the screws from loosening. instead of forming the lugs as shown in Figs. 1 and :2, l may employ small angular pieces 15, and attach them to the inner surface of the peripheral wall adjacent the lower edge of the latter as shown in Fig. 3.

In installing my improved box the peripheral wall is secured in position on'the form A prior to the attachment of the cover.

The conduit or conduits are then securedv to the wall by nuts, collars or the like, access being gained Ato the fastening devices through the ope-n top. To facilitate this securing of the peripheral wall, the latter is preferably provided `rwith a plurality of openings 16 preferably in the form of vertically disposed slots, which permit nails or other fastening members 17 to be driven diagonally downwardly and outwardly from f the interior of the box into the form A.

By this means l avoid the use of lu or flanges which increase the cost of the box and are liable to be bent or broken during shipment or installation. After the concrete or other material B has set the form A which supported the concrete, may be removed and in doing so will merely be pulled off of the lower ends of the nails 17. The latter may then be readily bent over into engagement with the under surface of the concrete or pounded into it. The finishing of the under surface by plastering or other material will effectively conceal these portions of the fastening members.

After the attachment of the conduits I secure to the peripheral wall a. cover 18 which not only prevents the admission tol the box of concrete B orl other material in which the box is bedded, but also carries a support for a lighting fixture such as a chandelier.

As an important feature of my invention I provide the cover 18 with a fiange 19 extending out beyond the peripheral wall so that it may become firmly anchored or embedd'ed in the concrete or other material B. Preferably the cover is of considerably larger diameter than the body of the box so that the flange 19 is of annular formand forms an anchorage around the entire periphery.

The cover carries a fixture support 26 which may be of any suitable character. As shown it includes a threaded stud depending through a central aperture in the cover an having a peripheral flange 27 resting upon the upper surface of the cover. This fiange' may be rigidly and permanently secured to the cover by mean's of rivets 28 or any other suitable fastening members. As the fixture support is carried solely by the cover and as the latter has a. peripheral portion extending outinto and embedded in the concrete or other floor material, it will be noted that the weight of the lixture will be supported independently of the peripheral wall of the outlet box and independently of the conduits connected to the latter.

For securing the cover 18 to the peripheral wall various different vmeans may be employed. In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown the side walls of the box provided with a plurality of lugs or extensions 2O integral therewith and adapted to extend up through slots Q1 in the cover'. The engagement of these lugs with the slots insures the proper positioning of the cover and prevents sidewise movement thereof, while upon bending the lugs down into engagement with the upper surface of the cover as shown in Fig. `2, the

cover may be permanently retained in position.

Insteadof making the lugs 20 integral with the side wall I may attach strips 22 to the inner surface of the wall and these.

may have upper end portions 23 serving as lugs and adapted to extend through the cover and be bent over the same as the lugs 20. The lower end portions 24 of the strips may be bent outward through notches in the lower edge of the wall, so as to form lugs which may be perforated and used to facilitate the attaching of the boX to the form A instead of using nails extending through slots 16 as shown 1n Fig. 2, although the latter is preferable and forms a part of my present invention. In' Fig. 5 I have shown a slightly different form of cover attaching means 'in which lugsl 21a are formed integral with the side wall and are bent over so as to lie flush with the upper edge of said wall. Suitable screws 25 or other fastening means may extend through the cover and through these lugs.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Iletters Patent is:

An outlet box adapted to be entirely embedded within the ceiling or wall of a room, and having a peripheral wall adapted to be placedupon the temporary form before the pouring of the concrete and provided with apertures to receive electric conductors, a separate circular topwall adapted to be secured to said peripheral wall after the placing of the latter and the attachment of said conductors, said top Wall being of materially larger diameter than said peripheral wall and having its entire peripheral portion extending outwardly beyond said peripheral wall in all directions to constitute an` anchorage for said top wall around the entire peripheral wall within the concrete, and a fixture support depending from said top wall within said box and supported primarily by the peripheral anchorage of said topI wall and independent of said peripheral wa l.

Signed at New York city,.in the county of New York and State of New York, this 24. day of February A. D. 1914.

JULIAN GORDON KNIGHT.

Witnesses:

C. W. FAIRBANK, FLORENCE LEvrEN. 

